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Curious tech and technology from the realm of science and science fiction.

Do Language and Emotion Affect Health?
Some years ago, when I was a little younger but just as peculiar, I was a general surgeon more interested in why people got sick than in cutting them—and equally interested in why they got well. Eventually, I decided that if I were to get any of my crazy ideas accepted, I'd have to become a psychiatrist. So I started hunting for a psychiatry residency. I was interviewed by one eminent gentleman and incidentally expressed my belief that anger and depression were important mechanisms in the induction of cancer. He sneered, not very politely, and said, "Every weekend we get at least a dozen nuts in the emergency room who have figured out what causes cancer." I asked, "What do they say?" His reply, which I treasure, was, "We ignore them... we have better things to do."
By Futurism Staff10 years ago in Futurism
Artificial Intelligence Endangers Mankind?
“With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon,” chief executive of Tesla and Space X Elon Musk eerily warned listeners at the MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics department’s Centennial Symposium in October of 2014. “In all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it's like, yeah he's sure he can control the demon. Didn't work out.” Some people believe artificial intelligence is evil and will end the human race while others believe they will only enhance our well-being. The thought of an evil robot stampeding through a mound of human skulls are deeply ingrained by way of modern pop culture and movies like James Cameron's iconic Terminator. These outrageous, though plausible, thoughts make the idea of artificial intelligence less attractive when giving a helping hand to everything in your everyday life.
By George Gott10 years ago in Futurism
Space Exploration Developments by 2050, A Fictional Vision
By 2050, the concept of exploring Mars will have been the impetus that drove the world to tackle space exploration. Here, society is filled with goals of establishing permanent habitats on the Moon and Mars, and developing the resources of these and other planetary bodies. The concerted efforts to meet the challenges of space exploration might well bring about a multitude of exploratory developments. By 2050, how will our outer-world function?
By S.H. Jucha10 years ago in Futurism
Drone Warfare Escalation
On February 4, 2002, the CIA sent an unmanned Predator drone to the city of Khost in the Paktia province of Afghanistan in order to kill Osama bin Laden. Although the CIA had been patrolling parts of Afghanistan since 2000, this was the first time one had used lethal force, and this lethal force came in the form of a Hellfire missile with the ability to destroy a tank, or a medium-sized building. However, if you know your recent history, then you are aware that Osama bin Laden was not killed in this strike in 2002; instead, a small group of people collecting scrap metal was reportedly obliterated.
By DS Peters10 years ago in Futurism
Elon Musk's Self-Driving Tesla Car
In 2012, there were 33,561 deaths from motor vehicle accidents. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, announced in 2015 that Tesla cars would handle 90 percent of driving within five years. This plan included all Tesla vehicles being equipped with an autopilot system. Musk compared Tesla's autopilot to the autopilot in airplanes, where people still manually control the vehicle in risky situations.
By James Porterson10 years ago in Futurism